Briffa wins mayoralty

Victoria has its first intersex Mayor with Hobsons Bay City Councillor Tony Briffa winning the top job over night.

The independent councillor in the city’s west recently said he hopes a win would break down taboos associated with having an intersex condition.

Since being elected to Hobsons Bay Council, Briffa has been the driving force behind the municipality advancing on LGBTI issues.

The council has hosted events for Melbourne queer cultural festival Midsumma and developed an inter-council liaison group to look at LGBTI issues, including recommending local libraries stock queer literature.

At the launch of the Midsumma program last month, Briffa said if he was elected he would become the first mayor to march in the annual Pride March in mayoral robes.

Briffa was born with both male and female physical attributes. He was assigned a female gender as a child and his male genitals were removed.

Eventually feeling uncomfortable as a woman, he started hormone replacement therapy and changed his identity documents to male.

Briffa says he is now comfortable identifying as being both male and female.

Hobsons Bay takes in the suburbs of Williamstown, Altona and Laverton.